1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to complex data modeling and data modeling. More particularly, the invention relates to massive correlative analysis and predictive modeling.
2. Description of the Related Art
The exponential increase of information over the last half-century is widely reported yet the impact of this on decision making has gone largely unnoticed. It's not that the decisions themselves have become more difficult—just that our expectations have become exponentially higher as a result of the volume of available data, coupled with our access to vast computer processing power.
As most any modem decision-maker can attest, this volume of information surrounding decisions is not always helpful. In all but very few cases, one must rely upon myriad disparate sources of information, each having been gathered and structured in its own idiosyncratic way. This causes several fundamental problems: 1) the information is often collected or input by inadequately trained individuals who don't understand the importance of consistent, quality data; 2) each database is designed to serve a particular purpose and rarely lends itself to use outside the narrow scope of its original purpose (e.g. comparing apples to oranges); and 3) most data collected is not accurately synchronized with a time/space context that all but prevents accurate cross-referencing with similar information.
For decades researchers have been attempting to address this growing problem. Solutions have been labeled everything from Recommender Systems to Artificial Intelligence, but met with only modest results. This disappointing outcome can be attributed partially to the fundamental data weaknesses outlined above and partially to the myopic scope of these earlier solutions. A growing body of research in complex systems theory suggests that many phenomena are significantly impacted by a large number of adjacent spheres of influence—an observations referred to as “small world networks”. In field after field, researchers are discovering a high degree of interconnectivity that reveals new correlations never before understood. This has led some to draw a parallel to a similar phenomenon in the social domain called “Six degrees of separation”. This work has recently been successfully verified in applications ranging from protein-protein interactions in a cell to the behavior of a terrorist cell. In all these cases, the common theme is the behavior of each component depends on the behavior of others. Thus there is a need for improved systems and methods for making decisions and for carrying out related tasks